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H.S. Girls Basketball: Amato, Boutanos lead Valley West in playoff opener

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Rowe running as Democrat for Wilkes-Barre council seat

EXETER &#8212; Plan A worked well for Hanover Area on Thursday night. But against Nanticoke Area, Plans B, C and D also must be accomplished.They weren&#8217;t.While Hanover Area was able to curtail Nanticoke Area sharpshooter Nate Kreitzer, the Hawkeyes couldn&#8217;t stop either Jake Krupinski or Colby Butczynski. The duo burned Hanover Area for a combined 35 points as Nanticoke Area posted a 65-45 victory in a District 2 Class 4A boys basketball quarterfinal game.Nanticoke Area (20-6) plays Tunkhannock (14-9) on Saturday in the semifinals. Tunkhannock bumped off Valley View 59-51 in its quarterfinal game.&#8220;Tunkhannock just beat us recently,&#8221; Nanticoke Area coach John Beggs said. &#8220;They&#8217;re very tough and well coached. We&#8217;re excited to get a rematch with them and get to the arena (for the championship game).&#8221;Hanover Area ended its season at 10-13.&#8220;We wanted to come out and disrupt Kreitzer as much as humanly possible,&#8221; Hanover Area coach Chris Gray said. &#8220;They kind of go as he goes with their offense. We thought if we could make him uncomfortable and make him work hard hard for things, as long as the other guys didn&#8217;t kill us early we should be in position to do something in the second half.&#8220;Unfortunately, everybody else killed us early.&#8221;Krupinski was the main assassin. He poured in 13 points in the first quarter, including 10 in Nanticoke Area&#8217;s 13-0 run to end the period. Butczynski closed out the initial eight minutes with a 3-pointer as the Trojans brought a 22-9 lead into the second quarter.&#8220;It was pretty important because we knew if we let them get on a roll they would get hyped up and wouldn&#8217;t stop,&#8221; Krupinski said. &#8220;We had to step on them first before they stepped on us.&#8221;The Trojans maintained a comfortable lead the rest of the way. JJ Bielecki came off the bench for a pair of 3-pointers in the second period as Nanticoke Area coasted into halftime ahead 36-22.Kreitzer finally got some good looks at the basket in the second half to finished with 10 points. His only 3-pointer of the game with seven minutes left increased the lead to 59-30. Butczynski ended his night a short time later with his final points before a wave of reserves for both teams finished off the contest.Asad Whitehead and Khairi Carson scored 15 each for Hanover Area.CLASS 2ANorthwest 54, Old Forge 38Bryce Koser scored a game-high 16 points and the Rangers romped into the District 2 Class 2A semifinals.Koser scored nine points in the first half as Northwest carved out a 25-16 halftime lead.Jaxson Yaple buried two 3-point goals in the opening quarter and finished with 12 points, matching the 12 Walker Yaple put up.Dante Lucarelli led Old Forge with 15 points.Lackawanna Trail 56, Mountain View 50Nico Borris scored all nine of his points in the fourth quarter and JP Gilroy finished with a team-high 13 points as Trail held off Mountain View.Richard Helbing tossed in 10 points in the victory.Mountain View&#8217;s Michael Fanelli scored a game-high 17 points.DISTRICT 2/11 CLASS SUBREGIONALMMI Prep 63, Salem Christian 28Matt Marchetti erupted for 25 points as the Preppers advanced to the semifinals of subregional play.Marchetti got started early, draining a pair of 3-points and 10 points in the opening quarter to get Prep out to a quick 13-point lead. He hit two more treys and 10 more points in the second quarter as the Preppers took a 40-11 lead into halftime.Marchetti finished with five treys on the night, and Mason Marchetti added 15 points in the victory.DISTRICT 2 CLASS 4A BOYS BASKETBALL QUARTERFINALSNanticoke Area 65, Hanover Area 45HANOVER AREA (45) &#8212; Lamaar Nelson 1 0-0 2, Khairi Carson 7 0-0 15, Justin Kopko 0 0-0 0, Asad Whitehead 5 3-5 15, Evan Materna 3 0-0 9, Auggie George 1 0-0 2, Matt Barber 0 0-0 0, Joe Curcio 1 2-2 4, Todd Kolbicka 0 0-0 0, Mike Merth 0 0-0 0, Bobby Sabecky 0 0-0 0, Ryan Bohlin 0 0-0 0, Charles Cribbs 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 5-7 45.NANTICOKE AREA (65) &#8212; Nate Kreitzer 3 3-4 10, Colby Butczynski 7 0-0 15, Trahjan Krupinski 2 0-0 4, Jake Krupinski 8 1-2 20, Dylan Szychowski 2 0-0 4, JJ Bielecki 2 0-0 6, Andy Kozlofski 1 0-0 2, Luke Myers 1 0-0 2, Collin Brown 0 0-0 0, Brandan Fontaine 0 0-0 0, Tyler Rushton 0 0-0 0, Joe Fox 0 0-0 0, Sincere Shiloh 1 0-0 2, John Chernowsky 0 0-0 0, Owen Brown 0 0-0 0,Devon Lohman 0 0-2 0, Colin Mackiewicz 0 0-0 0. Totals 25 4-8 65.Hanover Area`9`13`8`15 &#8212; 45Nanticoke Area`22`14`18`11 &#8212; 65Three-point goals &#8212; HA 4 (Carson, Materna 3). NA 7 (Kreitzer, Butczynski, J.Krupinski 3, Bielecki 2).<style>
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<div class="neCaption">Nanticoke Area&#8217;s Colby Butczynski, right, drives to the hoop against Hanover Area&#8217;s Evan Materna in a District 2 Class 4A boys basketball quarterfinal game at Wyoming Area High School in Exeter on Thursday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_TTL022219HSBB-Nanticoke-Hanover_1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Nanticoke Area&#8217;s Colby Butczynski, right, drives to the hoop against Hanover Area&#8217;s Evan Materna in a District 2 Class 4A boys basketball quarterfinal game at Wyoming Area High School in Exeter on Thursday. </caption0><photoCredit0>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_TTL022219HSBB-Nanticoke-Hanover_2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Nanticoke Area&#8217;s Jake Krupinski scores ahead of Hanover Area&#8217;s Asad Whitehead in a District 2 Class 4A boys basketball quarterfinal game at Wyoming Area High School in Exeter on Thursday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_TTL022219HSBB-Nanticoke-Hanover_2.jpg</photo1><caption1>Nanticoke Area&#8217;s Jake Krupinski scores ahead of Hanover Area&#8217;s Asad Whitehead in a District 2 Class 4A boys basketball quarterfinal game at Wyoming Area High School in Exeter on Thursday. </caption1><photoCredit1>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By John Erzarjerzar@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach John Erzar at 570-991-6394 or on Twitter @TLJohnErzar</shirttailMeta></div>

H.S. Boys Basketball: Nanticoke Area rolls past Hanover Area